Individualism became an important strain in painting,
calligraphy, and poetry during the middle to later years of the Tang dynasty.†
As the central political sphere declined, there was an upsurge in localized unorthodox creative activity which seemed
to stand outside all previous traditions. Daoist painters got drunk and
painted with their hair or dragged each other across the paperís surface, and
their Chan counterparts sought similar release from societal constraints in
calligraphy through the use of a new style of writing aptly named "wild
cursive."† The moral and civic value
attached to modeling oneself on the great early Tang masters of the standard
script from Taizong's court was still recognized, but the new emphasis on
individuality, the spontaneous, and the uninhibited marked a profound shift
in calligraphic practice from an ultimately conservative tradition to one
that favored self-expression and change.

As court calligraphers
throughout the Tang period were engaged in setting and maintaining a standard
for elegant writing in the Wang tradition, the actual forms of calligraphy championed
by the court became increasingly conventionalized and stagnant. Wild cursive, a radically modified
version of the draft cursive script of the Han dynasty, can be seen as a
reaction against the atrophied writing styles of later Wang tradition calligraphers.†

Zhang Xu (active 710-750
AD) was said to be the originator of the wild cursive script.† He enjoyed considerable fame in his own
day, and is counted among the Tang poet Du Fuís "Eight Drunken Immortals."

Although wild cursive seems
to break radically from all past traditions, Zhang Xu did base his writing
style on one of the more prominent earlier calligraphers.† It is believed that he was
further influenced by the Daoist practice of automatic writing in sand.

Zhang Xu's calligraphic
style is widely praised, especially by later scholars, yet one of the
by-products of his style is a pronounced deformation of word structures.†

Of the calligraphers presented in this
unit, whom do you think Zhang Xu took as his primary model?† What seems to be

a
salient feature of this writing style, judging from the small sample at left?

Below is a larger section of
the detail of the letter shown above.†
Can you recognize characters that you've seen before? Can you tell
where the brush must have changed speed or received great pressure?† How many people do you think would be able
to read this letter?

Zhang Xu was also the teacher/model
of two calligraphers of the following generation who were revered for their
unorthodox and highly individualistic styles.† The monk Huaisu (735?-800? AD, example shown below) was a man
of letters; also known as the "Drunken Monk," he followed Zhang Xu's wild
cursive mode of writing.† In one of
the extant examples of his calligraphy, Huaisu complains about eating bitter
bamboo shoots, and also admits his unbounded passion for liquor and fish.† The sample of Huaisu's writing below is an
autobiographical essay that includes comments on his own study of
calligraphy.

What kind of impression
of the calligrapherís personality or temperament does the example below give
you? Is this a carefully composed piece of writing?†

What religious or
philosophical traditions do you think had the most formative impact on this
mode of writing?

Yan Zhenqing (709-785 AD) was
a leading figure among loyalists to the Tang throne during the politically
turbulent eighth century.† He was a
dedicated and brilliant military figure who suffered great personal loss at
the hands of aspirants to the throne yet remained unswerving in his loyalty
to the legitimate ruling house.†

Because of his reputation
as a staunchly moral and principled individual, Yan Zhenqing's forceful and
majestic individual style assumed the heroic proportions of his own life. One
of the requisite techniques of Chinese calligraphy is maintaining the brush's
upright position in order to transfer more directly and powerfully the flow
of energy from hand to paper.† From
Yan Zhenqing's time forward, saying someone wrote with an "upright brush"
carried an especially strong tone of moral approbation.† His calligraphy was particularly
influential among literati of the Northern Song, including Su Dongpo and
Huang Tingjian.†

Evaluative writings on
calligraphy often equate the structure ("architecture") and line quality of
the written word with the physical human self.† Some examples are criticized for being too "fleshy" while
lacking in bone structure.† How do
you think Yan Zhenqing's regular script calligraphy would be portrayed in
these terms?† Why do you think this
type of analogy was considered appropriate?

Compare details from Yan Zhenqing's
regular script inscriptions (examples below right) with two examples from the
more orthodox court tradition that favored the elegance and ease of Wang
Xizhi style calligraphy, represented by Chu Suiliang from the time of Taizong
(below, top left) and Li Yong, the foremost Wang tradition calligrapher of
the first half of the eighth century (below, bottom left).†

Where can you identify
similarities in the shape and angularity of brush strokes?

Which brush strokes seem
to have been made with the most force or pressure?†

Do you think a
particular example stands out in terms of presenting a forceful or distinct
personality?† Why or why not?†

Although the majority of
calligraphers during the Tang period made their most distinctive contributions
to the development of a mature standard or regular script, the cursive script
type would in time be the most favored for its ability to express the
individual calligrapher's aesthetic preferences and inner character.

Compare these two examples
of cursive script, one by Huaisu (left) and the other by Yan Zhenqing (below).†

Do either of these seem
to be a more intentionally aesthetic object?†
Why or why not?